Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Explain some fundamental principles necessary for understanding the common water issues in the world.
• Cover the basic topics in practical hydrology, civil engineering hydraulics, turbulent mixing, and water/waste water treatments.
• Allow students to grasp essential concepts and procedures for analysing hydro-environmental processes and develop skills to solve practical water engineering problems.
• Highlight some of the most pressing water-related global challenges, such as freshwater scarcity, soil erosion, water quality deterioration and flooding, and stress the need for sustainable and integrated management of water resources.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Comprehend the scope of water-related topics in civil and environmental engineering
• Appreciate the environmental, social, political and economical implications of water engineering
• Understand the hydrologic cycle and the Earth’s water budget
• Understand simple models of infiltration
• Undertake simple rainfall-runoff calculations over small catchments
• Understand river hydraulics.
• Be aware of a wide range of hydro-environmental issues
• Understand the advective, diffusive, dispersive and reactive processes related to pollutant transports in uniform flows
• Evaluate the impact of large hydraulic engineering projects
• Solve steady flows using the equations of mass, energy and momentum conservations
• Analyse unsteady flows using the method of characteristics.
• Explain the cause of soil erosion and mitigation measures.
• Understand the mechanism of sand particle motion.
• Calculate the sediment transport rate and determine the bed regime.
• Select pipeline systems for water conveyance
• Make appropriate pump selections and design simple pumping systems
• Be aware of the principles and elements of water/wastewater treatments and the key engineering variables for their design
• Notice the limitations of the traditional water supply and sewage treatment systems in a sustainability context

Content

Hydrology and Water Resources (4L) 2 lectures/week, weeks 1-2 (Dr Borgomeo)

• Global water issues
• Hydrologic cycle
• Unit hydrographs

Open Channel Flows, Pollutant and Sediment Transports (12L) 2 lectures/week, weeks 3-8 (Prof D. Liang)

• Boundary layer and turbulence
• Flow resistance
• Steady flow in pipelines
• Water pollution
• Steady flow in open channels
• Pollutant advection,diffusion,dispersion and reaction
• Unsteady flow,flood routing and method of characteristics
• Sediment transport and bed form
• Pipeline systems
• Pumping systems

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

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Last modified: 31/05/2024 07:29

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Explain some fundamental principles necessary for understanding the common water issues in the world.
• Cover the basic topics in practical hydrology, civil engineering hydraulics, turbulent mixing, and water/waste water treatments.
• Allow students to grasp essential concepts and procedures for analysing hydro-environmental processes and develop skills to solve practical water engineering problems.
• Highlight some of the most pressing water-related global challenges, such as freshwater scarcity, soil erosion, water quality deterioration and flooding, and stress the need for sustainable and integrated management of water resources.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Comprehend the scope of water-related topics in civil and environmental engineering
• Appreciate the environmental, social, political and economical implications of water engineering
• Understand the hydrologic cycle and the Earth’s water budget
• Understand simple models of infiltration
• Undertake simple rainfall-runoff calculations over small catchments
• Understand river hydraulics.
• Be aware of a wide range of hydro-environmental issues
• Understand the advective, diffusive, dispersive and reactive processes related to pollutant transports in uniform flows
• Evaluate the impact of large hydraulic engineering projects
• Solve steady flows using the equations of mass, energy and momentum conservations
• Analyse unsteady flows using the method of characteristics.
• Explain the cause of soil erosion and mitigation measures.
• Understand the mechanism of sand particle motion.
• Calculate the sediment transport rate and determine the bed regime.
• Select pipeline systems for water conveyance
• Make appropriate pump selections and design simple pumping systems
• Be aware of the principles and elements of water/wastewater treatments and the key engineering variables for their design
• Notice the limitations of the traditional water supply and sewage treatment systems in a sustainability context

Content

Hydrology (3L) 2 lectures/week, weeks 1-2 (Prof FA McRobie)

• Global water issues
• Hydrologic cycle
• Unit hydrographs

Open Channel Flows, Pollutant and Sediment Transports (12L) 2 lectures/week, weeks 2-8 (Dr D. Liang)

• Boundary layer and turbulence
• Flow resistance
• Steady flow in pipelines
• Water pollution
• Steady flow in open channels
• Pollutant advection,diffusion,dispersion and reaction
• Unsteady flow,flood routing and method of characteristics
• Sediment transport and bed form
• Pipeline systems
• Pumping systems

Water/Waste Treatments (1L) 2 lectures/week, week 8 (Prof FA McRobie)

• Water treatment
• Wastewater treatment

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

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Last modified: 02/10/2022 17:57

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Examine the journey from invention to market
• Explore how new technologies are commercialised, either through the creation of new ventures or within established organisations, and the strategic, organisational, and operational choices that shape this process.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Understand the likely stages of development from innovation to profit
• Appreciate modern production technologies, advanced manufacturing, and operations management involved
• Understand the funding, protection, and exploitation of intellectual assets alternative routes for financing innovation across the development and commercialisation stages
• Describe how firms adapt their innovation and operations strategies in response to external pressures (such as the need for sustainability), uncertainty, and contextual disruptions.
• Describe the main features of how a business works

Content

Given the aims above, what are the choices that accompany those who attempt this effort along the way?
Each lecture is organised around a key decision question faced when identifying and executing a route to market for a technological innovation.
Lecture-specific objectives and applied examples are used to assess student learning against these outcomes.

Please refer to Moodle (for the Handouts and extra material)

Where do inventions come from?

We start by examining the source of inventions and the conditions in which they are likely to occur. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• List at least six strategies by which new inventions are found
• Give at least one example for each strategy
• Understand the difference between invention and innovation
• Describe the structure of this course

Is there a market?

Two major sources of invention are ‘push’ – the inventor thinks of something new and must establish a market; and ‘pull’ – there is a clearly defined market demand. In both cases, successful exploitation depends on understanding of the potential market for the new product. By the end of the lecture, given a proposed new technology or concept, students should be able to:

• Apply the concept of the 'design mix' determine how a product might be differentiated.
• Map the whole market for a potential new product, identifying and naming viable market segments comprising clusters of like-minded customers.

How do you design the right solution? From needs to prototypes

It is important that any design meets the requirements of potential users, customers, and any other stakeholder who might be influenced by the design, from maintenance to distribution. There are a number of different ways in which these requirements might be captured and considered. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Identify the stakeholders who are influenced by the design
• Propose a ‘persona’ of a specific user or stakeholder
• Apply the Kano model to the benefits to the user of different product features
• Understand the importance of prototyping in the design process

How to select the production processes to make your product?

This session will provide an introduction to the most common manufacturing processes used in industry today. We will examine the core principle of operation and think about their benefits and challenges. With this in mind, we will think about how to select an appropriate process or sequence of processes for a new product. Finally, there will be a brief introduction into where production process operation can benefit from integration of AI. Objectives are: 

• Understand the principle of operation for a range of common manufacturing processes.
• Appreciate the advantages and limitations of different common manufacturing processes.
• Explore the first steps towards selecting production processes for a new product.
• Understand where AI can contribute towards efficient manufacturing. 

How to scale up new technologies?

We will look at the challenges of taking a brand new product design through to manufacturing and how these challenges are addressed locally and nationally. We will focus on medical technologies as a case study to consider the broader materials, production processes and post-processing requirements and how they are balanced with aspects of safety, regulations, sustainability and ethics. The objectives are:

• Appreciate the range of influences when selecting materials and production processes.
• Understand the specific challenges of the medical technology sector.
• Consider the role of quality control and post-processing when selecting materials and production processes.
• Understand the challenges in moving a new idea through to a defined production process. 

How does a factory work?

This session introduces to key concepts in the way factories are planned, designed and operated to be able to make the products we use in everyday life. How factories are configured to be able to produce at different combinations of product volume and variety? The ways in which customers order are decomposed into tasks and examined, and some of the key equipment in a typical manufacturing environment is introduced in this context. Challenges for the modern factory will be discussed and examples of production outside the factory introduced list at least six strategies by which new inventions are found. the objectives are: 

• Understand different types and configurations of factories used to make products we use in everyday life
• Explore the way a order (of products) is decomposed into more elementary tasks which are to be completed within the factory
• Identify some key operations, machines and devices in factory operations. 

How to control and manage factory operations?

The session starts with the simplest control loops in a factory and shows that a hierarchy of nested loops are implicitly used in the management of different levels of factory operations. The session will also introduce the concept of industrial automation and examine the scope, rationale and typical technologies used.  The related concept of operations management is also introduced. Advances in industrial automation and control such as Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things and AI will be briefly examined. The objectives are:

• Appreciate the hierarchy of control systems in use in the management of a typical factory
• Explore the different ways automation can be applied to factory operations
• Understand key features of industrial control and operations management.
• Understand the role of emerging technologies in the control and management of a factory 

How do supply chains and industrial logistics work?

We will  introduce key concepts in supply chains and logistics, and examine their implications for modern manufacturing and society. We will explore current forces shaping supply chains and discuss the role of engineering led, quantitative approaches in addressing contemporary issues such as supply chain resilience, security and sustainability. The objectives are: 

• Appreciate the role of supply chains within modern manufacturing and explore the objectives of supply chain management 
• Explore the different types supply chains and current challenges facing companies in operating and coordinating them
• Introduce the role and function of logistics operations within supply chain operations
• Appreciate the range of quantitative decision-making models in addressing supply chain optimisation and coordination 

AI and Data science in manufacturing and supply chains

A range of contemporary Analytics and Artificial Intelligence methods are used in industrial systems.  The structure of the session builds on the previous lectures on processes involved in product design, factory systems and operations, and supply chain management, to map the ways in which data driven methods may be used to improve them. In doing so, the session describes methods such as predictive analytics, generative AI, optimisation, and agent-based systems; and explores the technical, managerial and ethical challenges involved in collecting and analysing industrial datasets. The objectives are: 

• Understand the range of AI approaches applied to product design, manufacturing, and supply chain and logistics management 
• Explore the challenges of developing AI and data science approaches in industrial environments
• Appreciate how advanced AI and data science is transforming industries 

How can your assets be protected?

Before any public disclosure of an innovation, an inventor must decide how to prevent competitors copying the new features. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Develop an awareness of the importance of intellectual property rights in today’s knowledge- and innovation-driven economies.
• Develop an initial understanding of the fundamentals of selected intellectual property rights that are of particular relevance for engineers.
• Understand where and how further, more detailed knowledge on intellectual property can be accessed. 

How does the innovation make money? How to get investment?

This lecture focuses attention onto two related issues: how an innovation could be turned into profits via the different types of business models and how to obtain investments to support the business. By the end of this lecture, the students will be able to:

• Explain what is meant by a ‘business model’ as a way of structuring the value creation and value capture activities of the business.
• Understand that there are different types of business model, and be able to describe the pros and cons of different models for achieving different outcomes.
• Describe the different types and sources of investment available for businesses, and the suitability of each for different business models and stages of the development of a business. 

What are the issues in managing growth through continuous innovation?

One good idea is not sufficient to ensure the long-term survival of a company. Companies need to innovate if they are to continue to grow. In this lecture, we will review the challenges of managing a portfolio of innovation projects in a growing business and we will consider the new management challenges that need to be addressed. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Describe some of the challenges of managing a portfolio of 'old' and 'new' projects, radical versus incremental innovations
• Compare the characteristics of a start-up versus, long established company and the different management challenges resulting from these different characteristics
• Understand the evolution patterns across markets and industry, and the threat of disruption.

How to deal with sustainability in industrial settings?

Through innovation and large-scale production, civilisation has achieved significant progress, delivering economic stability and substantial improvements in quality of life. However, the optimisation of industrial manufacturing has also contributed to rising greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation. As a major source of these impacts, industry has a critical role to play in reversing this trend.How are principles of industrial sustainability integrated in companies approaches? By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Discuss the impact of sustainability on the competing needs of industry
• Demonstrate that there are different ways of measuring the impact of industry (in the context of sustainability)
• Understand some of the different ways that sustainability can be implemented for industrial processes.  

Div E website

IfM Design Management Group website: https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

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Last modified: 27/01/2026 17:18

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce the excitement of business development related to technology innovations.
• Cover the key choices facing anybody seeking to exploit the commercial potential of a technology based innovation – whether as an entrepreneur or acting within an existing business; however we can’t promise to make you millionaires

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Understand the likely stages of development from innovation to profit
• Design an appropriate exploitation route for the given innovation
• Describe the main features of how a business works

Content

Specific objectives are given for each lecture, and examples  will be designed to test students learning against these objectives.

The lectures follow a series of key questions which represent the decisions that must be taken in finding an exploitation route for a technical innovation.

Please refer to Moodle (for the Handouts and extra material)

Where do inventions come from?

Inventions may arise from a spontaneous inventive step, a market demand, or a development of an existing idea. The purpose of this course is to explore the path from invention to business, but we start by examining the source of inventions and the conditions in which they are likely to occur. By the end of the lecture, given a perceived market need, students should be able to:

• list at least six strategies by which new inventions are found
• give at least one example for each strategy, and in the examples paper, think about how each strategy might apply in developing a new writing instrument
• describe the structure of this course

Is there a market?

Two major sources of invention are ‘push’ – the inventor thinks of something new and must establish a market; and ‘pull’ – there is a clearly defined market demand. In both cases, successful exploitation depends on understanding of the nature of the market and identifying precisely what the need of the users and customers are. By the end of the lecture, given a proposed new technology or concept, students should be able to:

• Apply the concept of the 'design mix' determine the key product attributes
• Map the whole market for this product, identifying viable market segments - to name clusters of like minded customers

What do the users want?

It is important that any design meets the requirements of potential users, customers, and any other stakeholder who might be influenced by the design, from maintenance to distribution. There are a number of different ways in which these requirements might be captured and considered. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Identify the stakeholders who are influenced by the design
• Understand two distinct appraoches to understanding customer needs
• Apply the Kano model

From specification to concept

Usually the inventive step is not a whole product but some feature of a broader ‘package’ offered to customers. In the early stages of the design process, it is important to clarify the exact product proposal, and to create viable concepts that might satisfy user requirements. By the end of the lecture, given a target market and a clear understanding of user needs, students should be able to:

• Clearly specify what is needed
• Understand how to generate and test concepts, including the role of prototyping
• Understand the importance of a design process

How will the product be made?

Having considered the idea, the relationships between the invention and the market, the protection of the idea and the ‘business model’ the product must now be made. This involves decisions about whether components are made ‘in house’ or ‘out-sourced’, how jobs should be designed for manual workers, and how to manage relationships with partner companies. By the end of the lecture, given a description of a product and a delivery system, students should be able to:

• Describe the reasons why it is both desirable and impossible to balance supply and demand and suggest some strategies for managing both
• Discuss the use of automated technology in designing a production system
• Describe the choices made by managers of a supply chain to ensure efficient collaboration

How can your ideas be protected? An introduction to intellectual property

Before any public disclosure of an innovation, an inventor must decide how to prevent competitors copying the new features. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• understand what is meant by Intellectual Property
• understand the implications of different methods of protection by:

• trade marks
• copyright
• design right
• registered designs
• patents

How can your ideas be protected? More on patents and other aspects of IP

One method for protecting intellectual property is through a patent - but these are not as simple or as protective as is generally thought. By the end of the lecture, given a patent for an artefact or process, students should be able to:

• identify whether a patent may be an appropriate method for protecting an idea, and weigh up some of the advantages and disadvantages of this method
• understand the tests of novelty, usefulness and the inventive step which an invention must satisfy in order to be patentable
• appreciate the need for confidentiality before a patent application is filed
• understand the structure of a typical patent, especially the claims
• talk reasonably intelligently to a patent agent

How does the innovation make money?

This lecture focuses attention onto two related issues. Firstly, we examine and compare the different 'business models', i.e. the various ways in which your business can generate revenue. This is trying to address the question of 'What are you actually going to sell?' Secondly, we turn attention back to looking at who the customer really is for your idea (a theme highlighted in lecture 2) and link this to the business model. By the end of the lecture, you should be able to:

• List and compare the different types of business model
• Link the choice of business model to a clear understanding of who the customer really is

How to get investment?

Businesses need resources (people, equipment, consumables, etc.) to create value. Many new firms need external financial investment in order to acquire these resources. External financial investment comes in different forms from a variety of sources. The aim of this lecture is to provide an overview of these different types and sources of investment, and explain what entrepreneurs need to do to in order to acquire investment. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• Compare the different types and sources of money available to start a new business
• Select the appropriate source of funding for different stages of the technology commercialisation process
• describe the basic sections of a business plan written to raise investment

How to work with other companies

Very few companies are able to create value by operating alone. Working in partnership with other businesses is a very common feature of innovation-based businesses. Partnerships can encompass joint development agreements, licensing deals, co-branding, market channel access, and many more. However, there are many management challenges that need to be overcome if partnerships are to deliver value to all partners. By the end of the lecture students should be able to:

• describe the motives for forming partnerships
• understand the different ways in which companies can work together
• appreciate some of the complexities of setting up and managing partnerships

Keeping ahead through innovation

Implementing one good idea is not sufficient to ensure the long-term survival of a company. Companies need to innovate if they are to continue to grow. In this lecture, we will review the different types of innovation – such as product, process, service business model – and the challenges of managing a portfolio of innovation projects in a growing business. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• list the different types of innovation
• describe some of the challenges of managing a portfolio of 'old' and 'new' products/services
• compare the challenges of managing radical versus incremental innovations

Managing growth

As companies grow, new management challenges need to be addressed. For example, when a company has only a few employees who all know each other very well, decisions can be made quickly. As a company grows and has hundreds or thousands of employees, things get more complicated. In this lecture, we will examine the differences between the management of a start-up and a larger, long-established company. By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:

• compare the characteristics of a start-up versus,long established company
• describe some of the different managemnet challenges resulting from these different characteristics

Case studies

As a conclusion to the course, through two examples  – one high-tech start-up, one a large multinational firm – will discuss experience of successful innovation, giving students the chance to test knowledge gained in the sessions against real experience.

REFERENCES

Online books: 

Annacchino, Marc A.

The Pursuit of New Product Development the Business Development Process. Amsterdam ; Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007. Web.

Dekkers, Rob.

Innovation Management and New Product Development for Engineers. Volume I : Basic Concepts. 2018. Web.

Innovation Management and New Product Development for Engineers, Volume II. Momentum, 2018. Web.

Other books: 

Cagan & Vogel, (2002), Creating breakthrough products: innovation from product planning to program approval, Prentice-Hall, USA

Goffin, K. and R. F. Mitchell (2010). Innovation Management: Strategy and Implementation Using the Pentathlon Framework, Palgrave.

Lang (2002) The High-tech Entrepreneur's Handbook: How to Start and Run a High-tech Company, FT.com

Moore, (1998, 2008), Crossing the chasm: marketing and selling technology products to mainstream customers, Chichester, Sussex.

Ulrich & Eppinger, (2000, 2004 and 2008), Product design and development, McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Division E - Website:

IfM Design Management Group website: http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/dmg/design-and-npd-management-tools/

This syllabus contributes to the following areas of the UK-SPEC standard:

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Last modified: 30/05/2023 15:16